My Kaiser Permanente Quote

Yes, the cheapest plan is $100 a month. With a $2,700 annual deductible that needs to be paid by me before Kaiser even kicks in. Awesome.

I'm not complaining on my behalf as much as to comment that if I'm experiencing these pains, I can't imagine what it's like for people with child(ren) or people who are actually sick and having to shoulder those costs. Ouch.

Las Vegas Panorama

{ Photo by Chung Nguyen | www.chungnguyen.com }

• Click for a large view.
• Click for the original view (warning: huge file).

This was taken while standing on top of the Stratosphere in Las Vegas.

Six Non-important Things / Habits / Quirks

I've been tagged by Charmeng.

Here are the rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
6. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

---

The Chi of Chung:

1. It's pretty hard to get me up in the morning. I'm not a morning person; definitely more of a night-owl. When I was in high school, my dad would wake me up each morning for school. I got so used to him waking me up at a certain time, I would sixth-sense his presence and sit up on my bed before he came into my room to wake me up. After he left, thinking that I was "up," I plopped down on my pillow for a few more precious minutes of sleep. This is what has enabled me to get ready for any occasion in about five minutes.
2. I'm not a big fan of reading books. This may not seem like a big deal, but I majored in English. At UC Berkeley. I did fairly well, despite of my lack of reading and/or interest in reading books. If you were to measure the number of words I've read online, however, Tolstoy would pale in comparison. I guess I'm just more tech-savvy than your average English-major pun-loving nerd. Although I love puns. And am a bit of a word-nerd.
3. I snore occasionally. And so do my pets. Occasionally.
4. My favorite stores are either online (Amazon), carry everything I need in one huge place (Target), or have food-food-food (any grocery store, e.g. Trader Joe's). What else can a girl need?
   
5. My two-handed tennis backhand is much, much, much better than my forehand.
   
6. I'm always paranoid when - on a three-plus lane highway - I want to merge into the middle lane. In the back of my mind, I feel like the car two lanes away might be wanting to do the same thing and then - bam! - we merge into each other and it's a major crash on Highway 101. It's never happened, and maybe has gotten close .5-time over the past 11 years of driving. But it's just one of those paranoias. That, and dropping my keys in the sewer grates. Or getting my stiletto heel stuck. And those who've seen me are like, "Umm, what stiletto heel?!?" (I own not a single pair.) Gotta love my random paranoias based completely on fantastical scenarios that, statistically-speaking, will never happen. Fun times!

So I would like to tag:
Prince, of Bamboo Nation
Michael, who Spits Hot Fire
Lilia, of Babymoon Photography
Tinou, who puts the Tinou in Tinou.com
Ashley, of Ashley Forrette Photography
Augie, of Augie Chang Photography

The Rules of Giving

The contest is over and I'm announcing a winner right now.

I really didn't know what to expect in terms of response from people. Maybe I'll get no response? Maybe I'll be inundated? I really didn't know. While quite a few people responded to my email blast to comment (positively) on what I'm doing, in the end, I received a total of four nominations from four different people. The nomination varied in length, but its heart is all there and I read the message loud and clear: these people could use this gift and, hey, they deserve it!

Generally speaking, I'm a very decisive person, but picking a winner was a tough choice. And then I realized that I am my own boss and my own person and I can do whatever I want. After that realization, the decision was easy as pie.

With that said, I want to thank Reena, Shirley, Olga, and Amy for nominating someone you feel is very deserving. And I want to tell you that... they've all won the prize. I know the thrill of victory has been deprived from you and I'm taking sort of a socialist approach here, but it's Christmas and, it's my blog, so I'll do whatever I want to. (: The nominations I read reminded me of the importance of children, love, family, and community. And I want to celebrate these everyday heroes for their personal triumphs and the lives they touch.

Thank you for participating.

My Last Family Portrait Session for 2008*

He's a cheeky monkey. This picture proves it. (:

*Maybe. I mean, there's still 9 days left to the year....

Who doesn't love getting the runaround?


One of my faves:


My fave:

Enjoy this slideshow!

{ Photos by Chung Nguyen | www.chungnguyen.com }

Ribbon in Fi's Hair

{ Photos by Chung Nguyen | www.chungnguyen.com }

Run & Cover

I loved Snow Patrol's Final Straw album, particularly Chocolate (I think the song's title has subliminal appeal for me as a chocoholic; plus, it was one of 30 or so songs I had on my sad little MP3 player that accompanied me on my month-long backpacking trip in Europe alone ... very few English-speaking friends around + a lot of train time = great familiarity and bonding time with Snow Patrol). Another fave is Run, which I heard recently Leona Lewis covered. They have rather different music styles and I was curious what her version would sound like. Apparently, it's sold many, many times over on iTunes. Must be good, right?

Here's Snow Patrol:

And here's Leona Lewis's kinda drawn-out and a little annoyingly grating-to-the-ears cover:

My opinionated introduction aside, which version do you prefer?

Two notes: (1) I love Leona Lewis's Better In Time, since the song topic and music suits her voice beautifully. (2) I love covers. One of my favorites is Victor Malloy's take on The Cure's Boys Don't Cry (it's the last track of this episode of Coverville). Also, Bizarre Love Triangle by New Order, covered by Frente!

Oh, Christmas Tree

{ Photo by Chung Nguyen | www.chungnguyen.com }

Two Feet

{ Photo by Chung Nguyen | www.chungnguyen.com }

Have a great weekend and stay comfy.

Company Holiday Party

Italian food, Prosecco, and good company all make for a fun Wednesday night in celebration of the holiday season.

Check out the slideshow set to some holiday music and a few favorite images below:

My second-shooter:


Quality service all around at this joint:


I really like this picture:


Yummy details:






It was so toasty (:

➨ The rest of the images can be found on my Smugmug page.

Because Giving is AWESOME!

The Blurb:

You know someone. You know someone who's experienced a tragedy, is struggling to stay afloat, is raising kids while holding down more than one job, or is volunteering selflessly despite extenuating personal circumstances. You know someone who can't afford custom photography, but who would cherish it this holiday season. You know someone who deserves a year-round reminder of their family's spirit, love, and beauty.

You know someone. I guarantee it.

I want to know who they are, and I want to give them the chance to experience complimentary custom photography. The winner will receive an hour-long portrait session, all full-sized, edited images on a CD, AND a custom-designed album. What better reason to show some love could there possibly be, people?

The rules:

• You cannot nominate yourself, and the person nominated must sincerely be incapable of purchasing my services. (Being unable to make mortgage payments for a two-million-dollar-vacation-home in Paris does not qualify as sincere financial need.)
• The nominee must reside in the San Francisco Bay Area. Tell me who you know, what they're experiencing, and why they deserve my artwork. Please include a way to contact both your nominee and yourself as well.
• You must e-mail me the full story: chung.nguyen@gmail.com

The winner will be announced on Christmas Eve, so get nominating!

Open your heart to someone this holiday season - and thanks for giving me the opportunity to open mine.

Photographers:
If you would like to participate, please visit Giving is Awesome.

You're interested in participating but you don't live in my area?
Check out Giving is Awesome to find a participating photographer in your area!

Final Note from Chung:
I really want to give back to the community, and this seems like a fun way to do so. Please nominate someone who you feel like would really enjoy the gift of custom photography and who deserves it. Who deserves it? Totally subjective, right? For me, it's simple. It's someone who's kind and loving and has a family that he or she adores but doesn't have the budget to document them photographically, and would appreciate this gift. Or it's someone who volunteers at the animal shelter now that he or she is retired, despite having pets of their own, and they'd love to have photos of their four-legged sweeties on display. Or it's the low-income family with a son, daughter, husband, or wife in the military, and they're going abroad soon, so they'd love a family portrait together. I know there are wonderful stories to celebrate out there, and I hope you can help me find them and honor and celebrate them.

Thank you. (:

Random Flickr

It works like this: Go to your flickr stream, and post the 6th photo on the 6th page to your blog. The photo above is mine.

- Jeremy Brooks

Holiday Card

I love getting stuff in the mail, especially when it's not a bill (some still come in the mail, believe it or not). I got this holiday card today, and I'm so glad the cards turned out to their liking. (You can view the slideshow for the family's portrait session in my previous blog post.)

Yep, Christmas is just a few short weeks away....

Feed the Community

In Second Harvest Food Bank's 34-year history we are experiencing unprecedented requests for services. During July, August, and September this year, our Food Connection food referral hotline experienced a 55% increase in requests compared to the same period last year. For many callers, this is the first time they are tapping into the Food Bank's services. During this same period, we responded to a 22% increase in food distribution and 17% increase in the number of people serviced.

Second Harvest Food Bank provides the safety net for 328 non-profit agencies providing food for 1,051 food distribution sites from Daly City to Gilroy, and from the Ocean to the Bay.

Help us ensure our community has the basic necessity of life: nutrition. With full stomachs, people can put in a good day's work, elders can have security in knowing where their next meal is coming from, and children can devote their undivided concentration to school work. By helping them, we are contributing to the health of our community.

Please go to the Second Harvest Food Bank website to donate today!

Flickr: Circle + Rectangle

{ Photo by Chung Nguyen | www.chungnguyen.com }

Gift Certificates

My parents and I called truce on gift-giving this holiday season. While the kids will undoubtedly still get their books, toys, and cute Twilight / Hannah Montana / whatever-other brand-licensed clothes, some of the adults are giving up on stuffing other adults with gifts they may or may not like or have no need for whatsoever. Kind of a waste of money, right?

The thing is, we love giving gifts! It's just harder and harder to find useful, meaningful gifts. The longer someone's alive, the more stuff they've amassed. And they do that just fine on their own - do you really need to contribute to the madness? (That's my thinking, at least.)

And that's where service- and experience-related gift certificates come into play. What are these? These are gift certificates to get massages, enjoy a delicious meal, go to the movies, etc. Show tickets, airplane tickets are great gifts, too. I, personally, LOVE THEM. Sometimes I feel bad about spending so much money going to the movies, but when I have a gift card, it's no big deal and I'm ever-so-thankful to the gift-giver. 'Cause I love movies, but don't enjoy watching them with pocketbook-guilt lingering over my head.

With all that said, I want to throw out another gift idea out there for you: gift certificates for a portrait session. It's a great gift for teens, new parents, families, and pet-lovers alike. They'll have fun and you'll get to bear witness to the end results ('cause I will show you the gallery of images we create together).

My gift certificate terms (which are very flexible):

• Cost: $295
• What: Recipient receives an hour-long portrait session and receives an online gallery plus DVD with all full-sized, edited images from the sessions (at least 50 images)
• Who: Great for everyone, especially families, new parents, tweens and teens, graduating high school or college seniors, and couples.
• Expiration? No.
  
• Transferable? Yes, but why would you want to re-gift such an awesome gift?
• Refundable? Yes, up to 30 days after purchase. (Did I not mention that the terms are very flexible!?)

Please email (chung.nguyen@gmail.com) or call (408.532.5880) if you're interested in purchasing a gift certificate!

{ Photos by Chung Nguyen | www.chungnguyen.com }